About 1 in 20 Cincinnatians, many of them in the
wealthiest neighborhoods, pay less in taxes because their home
renovations and constructions are subsidized by a local tax program.
While the program benefits the wealthy, it also hits Cincinnati Public
Schools and other local services through lost revenue. The tax abatement
program aims to keep and attract residents and businesses by lowering
the costs of moving and living in Cincinnati. Anastasia Mileham,
spokeswoman for 3CDC, says the tax abatements helped revitalize
Over-the-Rhine, for example. Others say the government is picking winners and losers
and the abatement qualifications should be narrowed.With hotel room bookings back to pre-recession levels,
Source Cincinnati aims to sell Cincinnati’s offerings in arts, health
care, entrepreneurism and anything else to attract new businesses and
residents. The Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau
established the organization to reach out to national journalists and
continue the local economic momentum built up in the past few years.
“Successful cities are those that have good reputations,” Julie
Calvert, interim executive director at Source Cincinnati, told The Cincinnati Enquirer.
“Without reputation it’s difficult to get businesses to expand or
relocate or get more conventions or draw young diverse talent to work
for companies based here.”The harsh winter weather this year pushed Cincinnati’s
budget $5 million over, with nearly $3 million spent on salt, sand and
chemicals alone.
. The rest of the costs come through increased snow
plowing shifts and other expenses to try to keep the roads clean. The
extra costs just compound the city’s structurally imbalanced budget
problems. The need for more road salt also comes despite Councilman Charlie
Winburn’s attempts to undermine the city’s plans to stockpile and buy
salt when it’s cheap.Mayor John Cranley says the success of The Incline Public
House in East Price Hill, which he helped develop, speaks to the pent-up
demand for similar local businesses in neglected Cincinnati
neighborhoods.Less than a month remains to sign up for health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov.
The estimated 24,000 students who drop out of Ohio schools
each year might cost themselves and the public hundreds of millions a
year, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education.Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says meth abuse has reached “epidemic” levels in the state.Ohio gas prices continued to rise this week.Developers say they have funding for the first phase of a Noah’s Ark replica coming to Williamstown, Ky.There’s a Netflix hack that pauses a movie or TV show when the viewer falls asleep.Follow CityBeat on Twitter:• Main: @CityBeatCincy • News: @CityBeat_News • Music: @CityBeatMusic • German Lopez: @germanrlopezGot any news tips? Email them to glopez@citybeat.com.

City Council yesterday expressed support for a barebones
parking plan that would upgrade all meters to accept credit card
payments and increase enforcement around the city, which should boost
annual revenues. The plan does not increase rates or hours at meters, as
Mayor John Cranley originally called for. It also doesn’t allow people
to pay for parking meters through smartphones. The plan ultimately means
death for the parking privatization plan, which faced widespread
criticism after the previous city administration and council passed it
as a means to jumpstart new investments and help fix the city’s
operating budget and pension system.Councilman Christopher Smitherman plans to pursue changes
to the city’s political structure to give more power to the mayor and
less to the city manager. Smitherman says the current system is broken
because it doesn’t clearly define the role of the mayor. Under
Smitherman’s system, the mayor would run the city and hire department
heads; the city manager, who currently runs the city and handles hiring,
would primarily preside over budget issues; and City Council would pass
legislation and act as a check to the mayor. Smitherman aims to put the
plan to voters this November.Commentary: “WCPO’s Sloppy Streetcar Reporting Misses Real Concerns.”The Cincinnati Art Museum maintains five political
cartoons from the famed Dr. Seuss (Theodore Seuss Geisel), but none are
currently on public display. The cartoons call back to the history before
World War II, when most of the world played ignorant to the horrors of
the Holocaust and Americans had yet to enter the war. Dr. Seuss loathed the villains on the world stage, and his cartoons promoted a
message of interventionism that would eventually lead him to join the
Army to help in the fight against the Axis powers. When he returned home, he would
write the famous stories and books he’s now so well known for.Mayor Cranley and some council members appear reluctant to
accept a routine grant application that would allow the Cincinnati Health
Department to open two more clinics because of the potential effect the
clinics could have on the city’s budget. Cranley and other council
members also seem concerned that the Health Department played a role in
the recent closing of Neighborhood Health Care, which shut down four
clinics and three school-based programs after it lost federal funding.Ohio legislators approved a bill that forces absentee
voters to submit more information and reduces the amount of time
provisional voters have to confirm their identities from 10 days to one
week. For Democrats, the bill adds to previous concerns that Republicans
are attempting to suppress voters. The bill now goes to Gov. John
Kasich, a Republican who’s expected to sign the measure into law.The Ohio legislature continues wrangling over how to give schools more snow days.More than 175,000 claims have been filed over winter damage, potentially making this winter one of the costliest in decades.Robot suits could make mixed martial arts blood-free.Follow CityBeat on Twitter:• Main: @CityBeatCincy • News: @CityBeat_News • Music: @CityBeatMusic • German Lopez: @germanrlopezGot any news tips? Email them to glopez@citybeat.com.

Universal preschool could save Cincinnati $48-$69.1
million in the first two to three years by ensuring children get through
school with less problems and costs to taxpayers, according to a
University of Cincinnati Economics Center study. The public benefits
echo findings in other cities and states, where studies found expanded
preschool programs generate benefit-cost ratios ranging from 4-to-1 to
16-to-1 for society at large. For Cincinnati and preschool advocates,
the question now is how the city could pay for universal preschool for
the city’s three- and four-year-olds. CityBeat covered universal preschool in further detail here.Cincinnati leaders intend to adopt a domestic partner
registry that would grant legal recognition to same-sex couples in the
city. Councilman Chris Seelbach’s office says the proposal would
particularly benefit gays and lesbians working at small businesses,
which often don’t have the resources to verify legally unrecognized
relationships. Seelbach’s office says the registry will have two major
requirements: Same-sex couples will need to pay a $45 fee and prove
strong financial interdependency. In a motion, the mayor and a
supermajority of City Council ask the city administration to structure a
plan that meets the criteria; Seelbach’s office expects the full
proposal to come back to council in the coming months.Mayor John Cranley plans to take a sweeping approach to
boosting minority inclusion in Cincinnati, including the establishment
of an Office of Minority Inclusion. The proposal from Cranley asks the
city administration to draft a plan for the office, benchmark inclusion
best practices and identify minority- and women-owned suppliers that
could reduce costs for the city. The proposal comes the week after
Cranley announced city contracting goals of 12 percent for women-owned
businesses and 15 percent for black-owned businesses.Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted eliminated early voting
on Sundays with a directive issued yesterday. Husted’s directive is
just the latest effort from Republicans to reduce early
voting opportunities. Democrats say the Republican plans are voter suppression, while
Republicans argue the policies are needed to establish uniform early
voting hours across the state and save counties money on running
elections.The Butler County Common Pleas Court ruled Tuesday that
the village of New Miami must stop using speed cameras. Judge Michael
Sage voiced concerns about the administrative hearing process the
village used to allow motorists to protest or appeal tickets.Ohio officials expect to get 106,000 Medicaid applications through HealthCare.gov.The first shark ray pups born in captivity all died at the Newport Aquarium.
Rising home prices might lead to more babies for homeowners.Follow CityBeat on Twitter:• Main: @CityBeatCincy • News: @CityBeat_News • Music: @CityBeatMusic • German Lopez: @germanrlopezGot any news tips? Email them to glopez@citybeat.com.

Seelbach touts measure to boost Cincinnati’s LGBT inclusion score

The mayor and a supermajority of City Council backs
efforts to establish a domestic partner registry for same-sex couples in Cincinnati,
Councilman Chris Seelbach’s office announced Tuesday.If adopted by the city, the registry will allow same-sex
couples to gain legal recognition through the city. That would let
same-sex couples apply for domestic partner benefits at smaller businesses, which typically don’t
have the resources to verify legally unrecognized relationships, according to Seelbach’s office.Specifically, the City Council motion asks the city administration to
reach out to other cities that have adopted domestic partner registries,
including Columbus and eight other Ohio cities, and establish specific guidelines.Seelbach’s office preemptively outlined a few requirements to sign up: Same-sex
couples will need to pay a $45 fee and prove strong financial
interdependency by showing joint property ownership, power of attorney, a
will and other unspecified requirements.“As a result of a $45 fee to join the registry, we believe
this will be entirely budget neutral, meaning it won't cost the city or
the taxpayers a single dollar,” Seelbach said in a statement.If the plan is adopted this year, Cincinnati should gain a perfect
score in the next “Municipal Equality Index” from the Human Rights
Campaign, an advocacy group that, among other tasks, evaluates LGBT inclusion efforts from city to city.
Cincinnati scored a 90 out of 100 in the 2013 rankings, with domestic
partner registries valued at 12 points.Seelbach expects the administration to report back with a full proposal that City Council can vote on in the coming months.